Gal Pals
by JediFighterPilot2727
Summary: Supercorp prompt: Lena invited to Ellen show and is questioned about her relationship with Kara Danvers after their CatCo date
1. Chapter 1

**This is short and sweet, but I wanted to get back in the swing of it! Feels like it's been forever! Also, it's been a while since I've watched any Ellen, so she may be a little out of character!**

"So, Lena, I know we're here to talk about your company's latest developments in healthcare technology, but before I let you go, I just have one thing."

Ellen's words send a ball of lead sinking to her gut.

Of course she isn't going to make it through an entire interview without her family being brought up.

Of course making healthcare advancements that will save literally hundreds of thousands of lives isn't going to distract from her family name.

Of course she's still a Luthor.

"Actually, I have some pictures."

Ellen's smirk should be a giveaway, but she isn't paying attention - too distracted by trying to figure out what her family could have possibly done now.

And why did they have to let it be captured on film?

The crowd 'Oohs' and there a few wolf whistles, enough to make her jerk around to look at the screen behind her.

Her heart pounds in her chest.

This is not what she expected.

Instead of Lillian's smug grin, or Lex's bald head; it's a picture of her.

Well, her and Kara to be more accurate.

She recognizes the scene from the week before, when she had visited Kara at CatCo for lunch.

They're grinning, mid-laugh, and Kara's fingers are tugging at her glasses in that adorable way she has.

She feels a smile spreading across her face as she refocuses on the host sitting on the couch across from her.

"So, who's the pretty lady?"

She knows what she wants to say, that Kara is the most interesting, most beautiful, most genuine person she's ever met.

But she can't.

Because she isn't really sure if that's something that 'friends' say. The line between them is so blurred these day - the line between 'friends' and 'maybe something more'.

And Lena knows which side of the line she wants them to be on, but she isn't willing to risk everything she has with Kara on a chance for something more. So if she has to hide her feelings in order to keep Kara . . . so be it.

She just didn't expect to have to hide them on national television.

"Kara Danvers." Lena answers with an easy smile. "She's a reporter, actually. one of the best National has to offer." She prays that the blush she feels creeping up her neck isn't noticeable.

"I see, and do you and Kara eat lunch together often?" Ellen questions.

 _"Nearly everyday."_

Is what she wants to say, because it's the truth, and because those lunch dates have long been the highlight of her day.

But her intuition tells her to hold off, that Ellen is digging for something.

"Occasionally." She says instead, hoping that's noncommittal enough to be the end of it.

But of course it isn't.

"These aren't the first pictures of you to circulate." The screen flashes through various shots of her and Kara, and she mentally curses National City's paparazzi. "In fact, several tabloids have suggested that you and might be a couple."

There it is, she went right for the sucker punch.

And now Lena once again curses her family as the cause for her aversion to tabloids. maybe if she picked one up every now and then she wouldn't be caught so off guard right now.

She doesn't say anything, just wishes for the ground to swallow her up.

"So you're just friends."

Lena nods eagerly, hoping this is the end of it.

"Like best friends?"

Another nod.

"Gal Pals."

She starts to nod, only to freeze when she realizes what Ellen is implying.

"Not- Gal Pals, I - uh no, no."

She can hear her heartbeat thrumming in her ears, as Ellen waves a hand."

"I'm only kidding, but for the record, you two should date, I mean it's totally your choice, but you'd make a beautiful couple." The crowd cheers, and Lena knows her blush is visible now. "After the commercial, we have the creator of the new emoji app everyone is raving about, but for now everybody give it up for Lena Luthor!"

She has a few other interviews to give across the city, and her day is such a whirlwind of activity that it's mid-afternoon and she's on her way back to the office before she has a chance to check her phone.

 _ **Kara Danvers**_ _: Saw the Ellen interview!_

 _ **Kara Danvers**_ _: Amazing as always!_

 _ **Kara Danvers**_ _: Wait_

 _ **Kara Danvers**_ _: Why are we not gal pals?!_

 _ **Kara Danvers**_ _: We're gals, are we not pals?_

For once, she's grateful that she has an afternoon of board meetings to go to and that she can use them as an excuse to buy a little time.

Because this is one pop culture reference she has no idea how to explain to her friend.

Three little dots appear on her screen and she holds her breath.

 _ **Kara Danvers**_ _: Ellen wants us to date?_

She wonders how hard it would be to move L-Corp back to Metropolis.


	2. Chapter 2

**Tumblr prompt- That supercorp ellen prompt was great! I'd love to read what happens next where maybe Kara meets Lena and asks her about the interview, which leads to Lena admitting her feelings for Kara?**

 **For the purpose of this fic, assume that Kara and Mon-El stayed broken up and Lena knows Kara is Supergirl.**

The sound of boots on her office balcony makes her want to bang her head against her desk.

It isn't that she's been ignoring Kara, it's just . . .

She's been ignoring Kara.

Ever since the Ellen interview two days ago, she had been trying to avoid the 'gal pals' question. Just thinking about it makes her cringe with the awkwardness of it all. Even though she had completely scoffed at the idea of she and Kara being more than 'just friends'; she's still afraid that if Kara realizes that some of their interactions could be considered . . . well, a little more than friendly; she might treat Lena differently.

But Lena _likes_ how they are.

She likes the late night donut dates, and the weekend brunches.

She likes the tight hugs and the flirtatious smiles, and the way Kara sometimes stares at her boobs when she thinks Lena isn't looking.

The last thing she wants is for all of that to go away.

Kara is her best friend, and okay, maybe she wants something more; but she would never risk Kara's friendship - she would much rather pine away in silence.

So she had thrown herself into her work, ignoring Kara's texts and phone calls, hoping that eventually Kara would forget all about 'gal pals'.

But for better or worse, Kara is nothing if not persistent, and here she is, coming to visit Lena at - she checks her watch - 10:45 PM.

She sighs and finishes her annotations on the next page of the contract she's working on, knowing Kara will use the keypad lock and let herself in.

"You're avoiding me."

She can hear the pout in Kara's voice, and it makes her smile just a little - fully aware of the puppy dog pout that's waiting for her when she finally looks up.

"I've been busy." She offers.

"You're always busy, but you still make time for me." Kara's arms cross her chest and her bottom lip juts out even further - if that's possible.

"I'm sorry." She says honestly, because she _is_ sorry.

Kara's face instantly softens.

"Is there anything I can help you with? I don't really know much about the business side of things, but I can look over R&D reports, or get you dinner from that Sushi place you love in Metropolis . . ."

"Thank you, really, but I'm fine - just finishing up, actually."

Kara nods thoughtfully before taking a seat at one of the chairs opposite Lena's desk. They sit in silence for a moment, Lena finishing up the contract and Kara watching her carefully.

"Want to tell me what's really going on?"

"What?"

"Lee, you've read that paragraph five times, and you have yet to write any notes about it."

"Oh."

"Are you avoiding me because you don't want to have to tell me you don't want to be gal pals?" Kara says it like a joke, Lena freezes, because that's exactly what she wants; but it doesn't mean what Kara thinks it means and . . .

"You know what gal pals are, right?" She tries to keep her voice light and teasing, and she hopes that Kara isn't paying attention to her heart, because she can feel it pound desperately in her chest.

"Like best friends, right?" Those perfect brows are crinkled in confusion and she fights the urge to reach out and smooth it with her thumb.

"Kara . . . gal pals is like a joke for when someone, especially in the media refuses to acknowledge a lesbian as anything more than friends. Or when the two women involved act an awfully lot like a couple but still insist that they're just friends."

"Oh." Kara's lips form a perfect 'o'.

"Yeah." She leans back in her desk chair and waits for the inevitable fall out.

"So. . . Ellen was asking if we're a couple?" Kara finally asks, rising from her chair.

"Basically."

"Or . . . " Kara's back is to her, and even though she can't see the other woman's face, she can practically hear the wheels turning. "Or she was implying that we act like we're dating, even though we don't really notice it."

There it is.

"Kara-" She begins, but she's cut off when Kara whirls around, cape twisting in the air.

"Friends don't act like this, do they?"

She has no idea what to say, no inkling of how to preserve her favorite friendship; so she says the only thing she can say - the truth.

"I like the way we act."

Kara is silent for a moment, fingers tugging at the cuffs on her suit. Lena waits with baited breath, terrified of the words about to come.

"I like the way we act too." Kara finally says, so soft she can barely hear it; but regardless, she feels a weight lift from her shoulders.

"I'm sorry if I -"

"No, Lee, you have nothing to be sorry for; I . . . "

They stand there, eyes locked - for how long Lena isn't sure. All she knows is that she could lose herself in Kara's blue eyes - wants to lose herself.

"Join me on the balcony?" Kara finally asks. "Sometimes it's easier for me to think when I'm under the stars."

She pushes back her chair and leads the way onto the balcony, moving to lean over the railing, shocked when she feels Kara's cape drape over her shoulders. If anything, she expected Kara to pull back from physical affection.

"Is this okay?" Kara questions and she nods, leaning into the superhero. It's cold, and Kara is just so warm.

They stay like that, gazing out at the stars and the city for several long moments before either of them speaks again. Lena's mind races through every possible scenario, but this is a game of chess she's never played before, and Kara has always been a skilled opponent anyways.

"So," Kara finally breaks the silence. "We act like girlfriends, huh?"

"I suppose so." she says with a chuckle, although her heart is breaking.

"I guess, you lied then."

"Excuse me?"

"To Ellen. About being gal pals."

"I'm sorry, I don't -"

"You're my best friend, Lena. My best friend. And I love you. And the last thing I want to do is to mess that up, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to kiss you right now."

"What?!" Out of all the scenarios she had planned in her head, this was not one of them.

"I just - I'm myself, with you. And I want to do things for you like bring you flowers and make you eat lunch when you forget, and sometime you get that adorable little frown when you concentrate and I just want to kiss it away. So maybe I'm a gal pal, maybe I've been lying to myself about how I feel about you because I didn't want to wreck our friendship. But I've never had a friend like you. I've never had anyone like you."

Lena swallows thickly.

"So what do you think we should do?"

"I think you should let me fly you home because it's late."

"Kara-"

"No, Lena, it's on me. You shouldn't feel obligated just because -"

"Kara." She says it more firmly this time, tugging the other woman to face her. "I've been avoiding you because I was afraid that you would be able to see how much I want more with you and that you wouldn't want to be friends anymore."

"You want more?"

Lena nods slowly, breath catching in her throat.

"With me?"

She nods again, a small chuckle escaping.

"Does that mean I can kiss you?"

"Please."

She barely has time to get the word out before Kara's lips are closing over hers, arms pulling her tight to the superhero's chest.

Whatever she imagined kissing Kara would be like? This was a thousand times better.

"So Lena, last time you were on my show, you told my that you and a certain reporter were most certainly not dating." Ellen gestures to the screen behind them- half a dozen tabloid pictures of Lena and Kara kissing or holding hands. "I have to say, I feel a little lied to."

"You know Ellen, it's actually a funny story . . . "


End file.
